HBO's apocalyptic drama The Leftovers will debut its final season this year, but will leave no room for spinoffs. 2017 is set to be a bittersweet year for fans of the series, which has seen an above average amount of changes take place with each new season. While many dramas are content to try to maintain the status quo that seems to be working, each new Leftovers season has seen dramatic shifts in setting, tone, and cast. Unfortunately, the critical success and small but loyal audience of The Leftovers never managed to translate to mass appeal, and the soon to premiere third season is set to be the series' last.

Fitting the pattern, The Leftovers season 3 will see big changes yet again, with Kevin, Nora, and the rest of the season 2 cast being transplanted to Australia, after having spent last season in the small Texas town of Jarden, a.k.a. Miracle. As the trailers and marketing for season 3 has made clear, the world as humanity knows it seems soon set to end via a Noah-esque apocalyptic flood, seven years to the day after the sudden departure saw 2 percent of the world's population mysteriously vanish. Per usual, Kevin finds himself unwillingly thrust into the middle of these events, with some believing he is the chosen savior of the human race.

For anyone who might be wondering just how conclusive of an ending The Leftovers' eight-episode final season will provide fans, showrunner and co-creator Damon Lindelof told Variety that the season 3 finale will wrap the series up permanently, with no loose ends left to build off of. Here's his full quote on the matter:

"This is it; we left no dangling threads, no to be continued, no spinoff possibilities. We made pretty sure that this was going to be the last season of the show. The audience deserves as satisfying an ending as we can give them. I don’t think anyone wants to see a question mark at the end of this."

In a pop culture landscape so franchise-centered that producers and studios seem hesitant to permanently close the book on any property with a fanbase, it's arguably quite refreshing to see that Lindelof and crew opted not to leave any "dangling threads" that could potentially be used to continue the story at some undetermined point in the future.

Will Kevin Garvey manage to save humanity from extinction? It's too early to predict, but he's already shown himself capable of dying and coming back to life twice, so it's certainly not out of the realm of possibility. What is certain is that Leftovers fans can't wait to find out.

Next: The Leftovers Final Season Image Brings the Cast to Australia

The Leftovers season 3 premieres Sunday, April 16 on HBO.

Source: Variety